Chrysler Halcyon Is a Surprise Concept with Four Doors, Enticing Looks

• Chrysler has unveiled a low-slung electric sedan concept car called Halcyon that is said to be a preview of the brand’s future.
• While just a concept for now, the Halcyon is packed full of cool tech, some of which could eventually reach production.
• Brand spokespeople touted 800-volt architecture and a battery pack that uses emerging lithium-sulfur technology, which is is said to reduce the carbon footprint by up to 60 percent compared to today’s EVs.

Chrysler is providing a peek at its future and, to our delight, it’s not an SUV or a minivan. Instead, the company is showing off a sleek and sporty-looking four-door concept called Halcyon. With sweeping lines and a low-slung posture, the Halcyon is an electric sedan in the vein of the Audi e-tron GT or the Porsche Taycan, but it’s packed with futuristic features and design elements.

Chrysler Halcyon concept

While other Stellantis brands are on the cusp of launching the company’s first round of electric vehicles, the Halcyon is further away from being a reality. But it’s said to be rolling on the same platform—STLA Large—that will underpin the electric Jeep Wagoneer S, which is entering production this fall. We think that means a production version of the Halcyon, in one form or another, is certainly possible.

Slick and Slippery Styling

Chrysler’s designers describe the Halcyon as a clean-sheet design, styling-wise, but we can’t help noticing its “cab forward” layout, popularized by the brand’s mid-size and large sedans of the late 1990s and early 2000s. The concept is more contemporary than cars such as the 300M sedan (shown below), but it’s easy to see the evolution of the profile.

Aerodynamics shape much of the Halcyon’s exterior, and clever engineering has been implemented to make the car as wind-resistant as possible. A narrow slit in the front fascia cuts deep through the hood and to the base of the windshield to help direct air up and over the roof. Rear-facing cameras mounted on slim arms serve as side mirrors, projecting images on screens inside the car. Around the back, the taillamp module and rear diffuser can extend outward to physically lengthen the Halcyon when cruising, which is said to further improve aerodynamics.

The extensive use of glass in the canopy gives a whole new meaning to outward visibility. Chrysler says 45 percent of the car’s exterior panels are glass, and that creates sweeping views of the road ahead or the sky above. The Lucid Air, another fancy and futuristic electric sedan, offers a similar design and to good effect.

Chrysler Halcyon concept

The Halcyon features rear-hinged rear doors that open in conjunction with the front doors to provide wide-open access to the interior. The side doors open in conjunction with flip-up roof panels, which are said to ease ingress and egress due to the car’s low roofline.

Sculptural and Modular Cabin

Sustainable materials, including microsuede made from 73 percent recycled plastic bottles cover much of the Halcyon’s cabin. The seat upholstery and headliner are also recycled and, in what seems like another nod to the 2000s, the company has used crushed-up CDs to fashion reflective Chrysler logos in the Halcyon’s door sills.

Chrysler Halcyon concept interior

The seats themselves are quite sculptural in design, with a wing-back design and floating headrests. Firm cushions used in the concept makes us question the chairs’ long-range comfort, but should it make production, we’d expect a less aggressive design with thicker layers of padding. The rear seats feature an evolution of the brand’s Stow ‘n’ Go seating scheme. Rather than folding down into a cubby in the floor like the rear seats in the Pacifica minivan, the Halcyon’s rear seat bottoms retract into the trunk area, leaving the seatbacks in place but opening up space on the floor for cargo.

The most dramatic element, though, is the car’s dashboard, which is pushed down and away from the driver. When seated in the driver’s seat, the physical distance from the instrument panel,coupled with the expanse of uninterrupted glass, gives you the impression that you’re sitting in something far more exotic than a Chrysler.

Advanced Tech that Dreams Big

The biggest swing in the Halcyon’s design might be its on-board technology. A curved display stretches the length of the dashboard, which isn’t a new concept given the 2024 Lincoln Nautilus is entering the market this year with a similar infotainment setup. Chrysler takes the idea a step further, though, by rendering the interface on a transparent glass panel.

Chrysler Halcyon concept interior

Speaking of glass screens, the Halcyon’s roof panel doubles as an augmented reality display. A hypothetical autonomous driving mode activates and transforms the car’s cabin into more of a rolling lounge. The steering wheel drops away and the front seats can be reclined so occupants can enjoy the content being projected onto the roof.

A 15.6-inch rotatable infotainment display deploys from the Halcyon’s center console when the driver or front-seat passenger needs it. The infotainment interface itself is said to be highly personalized to the driver and can store individual user profiles to make sharing the car easier without losing your preferences. The software can store memories from individual users’ past road trips, for example, and display photo memories based on destination or current location.

Extra effort has gone into the car’s AI virtual assistant to take it beyond what users currently expect from similar features such as Apple’s Siri or Google’s Voice Assistant. The goal is to make the system robust enough that it can predict user needs. Connecting with other smart devices—including phones, home thermostats, voice shopping tools, etc.—are intended to make the driver’s life easier.

Platform, Powertrain, and Battery

While the concept rolls on Stellantis’s STLA Large platform, Chrysler said the vision for Halcyon includes a lithium-sulfur battery pack that’s not yet production-ready. The emerging technology is said to have a 60 percent lower carbon footprint than today’s EV batteries, which contain nickel and manganese.

The company also envisions a future where wireless charging, even while the car is moving over the road, is a possibility. The Halcyon’s driving range is unknown, but Chrysler says if mobile charging infrastructure were to become a reality it could eventually provide unlimited range. Consider us skeptical.

Chrysler Halcyon concept

More likely, the fast-charging nature of the concept’s battery—200 miles of driving range in just five minutes, according to Chrysler—would be the practical game changer customers would appreciate most.

The Halcyon strikes us as a sort of wish list for a future Chrysler, and if only a few of the concept’s novel features make it to production it would still serve to move the brand forward. If Halcyon does get the green light, we think several more years of development would be needed to get it ready for the assembly line, so an estimated launch date sometime in 2027 or 2028 is feasible.